Abstract: New Zealand-s product markets experienced a surge in
import competition beginning from the late 1970-s when its
government began to promote a policy of more open markets. This
study considers how the trade liberalization aspect of the policy may
have influenced unionization and union-organizing success. For
describing the trade liberalization, a model shows how the removal of
import tariffs can lead to countervailing influences upon the union
membership of a domestic firm. The evidence supports the prediction
that union membership has been decreased rather than increased. In
the context of debates concerning globalization, it can be said that the
power of unions has been diminished.
Abstract: Middle-gate is located in Hasankeyf, Batman dating
back to 1800 BC and is one of the important historical structures in
Turkey. The ancient structure has suffered major structural cracks
due to aging as well as lateral pressure of a cracked rock which is
predicted to be about 100 tons. The existing support system was
found to be inadequate to support the load especially after a recent
rock fall in the close vicinity. Concerns were increased since the
existing support system that is integral with a damaged and cracked
gate wall needed to be replaced by a new support system. The
replacement process must be carefully monitored by crackmeters and
control mechanisms should be integrated to prevent cracks to expand
while the same crack width needs to be maintained after the
operation. The control system and actions taken during the
intervention are explained in this paper.
Abstract: Soil mechanics is a traditional course in any
university. Management of lab classes is one of the main issues to
deliver a proper outline. In Curtin University, different methods
applied to check the efficiency of these methods. One of them was
mainly rely on demonstration and the other one mainly on involving
students in running tests. Comparison between these delivery
methods also are outlined in summary section. The recommendation
also made that the more satisfaction is reachable while the students
engaged.
Abstract: Among the various cooling processes in industrial
applications such as: electronic devices, heat exchangers, gas
turbines, etc. Gas turbine blades cooling is the most challenging one.
One of the most common practices is using ribbed wall because of
the boundary layer excitation and therefore making the ultimate
cooling. Vortex formation between rib and channel wall will result in
a complicated behavior of flow regime. At the other hand, selecting
the most efficient method for capturing the best results comparing to
experimental works would be a fascinating issue. In this paper 4
common methods in turbulence modeling: standard k-e, rationalized
k-e with enhanced wall boundary layer treatment, k-w and RSM
(Reynolds stress model) are employed to a square ribbed channel to
investigate the separation and thermal behavior of the flow in the
channel. Finally all results from different methods which are used in
this paper will be compared with experimental data available in
literature to ensure the numerical method accuracy.
Abstract: This paper presents an analytical framework for an
effective online personal knowledge management (PKM) of
knowledge workers. The development of this framework is prompted
by our qualitative research on the PKM processes and cognitive
enablers of knowledge workers in eight organisations selected from
three main industries in Malaysia. This multiple-case research
identifies the relationships between the effectiveness of four online
PKM processes: get/retrieve, understand/analyse, share, and connect.
It also establishes the importance of cognitive enablers that mediate
this relationship, namely, method, identify, decide and drive.
Qualitative analysis is presented as the findings, supported by the
preceded quantitative analysis on an exploratory questionnaire
survey.
Abstract: Newton-Raphson State Estimation method using bus
admittance matrix remains as an efficient and most popular method to
estimate the state variables. Elements of Jacobian matrix are computed
from standard expressions which lack physical significance. In this
paper, elements of the state estimation Jacobian matrix are obtained
considering the power flow measurements in the network elements.
These elements are processed one-by-one and the Jacobian matrix H is
updated suitably in a simple manner. The constructed Jacobian matrix
H is integrated with Weight Least Square method to estimate the state
variables. The suggested procedure is successfully tested on IEEE
standard systems.
Abstract: Continuous measurements and multivariate methods are applied in researching the effects of energy consumption on indoor air quality (IAQ) in a Finnish one-family house. Measured data used in this study was collected continuously in a house in Kuopio, Eastern Finland, during fourteen months long period. Consumption parameters measured were the consumptions of district heat, electricity and water. Indoor parameters gathered were temperature, relative humidity (RH), the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) and differential air pressure. In this study, self-organizing map (SOM) and Sammon's mapping were applied to resolve the effects of energy consumption on indoor air quality. Namely, the SOM was qualified as a suitable method having a property to summarize the multivariable dependencies into easily observable two-dimensional map. Accompanying that, the Sammon's mapping method was used to cluster pre-processed data to find similarities of the variables, expressing distances and groups in the data. The methods used were able to distinguish 7 different clusters characterizing indoor air quality and energy efficiency in the study house. The results indicate, that the cost implications in euros of heating and electricity energy vary according to the differential pressure, concentration of carbon dioxide, temperature and season.
Abstract: This work presents a study on the abrasive water jet
(AWJ) machining. An explicit finite element analysis (FEA) of
single abrasive particle impact on stainless steel 1.4304 (AISI 304) is
conducted. The abrasive water jet machining is modeled by FEA
software ABAQUS/CAE. Shapes of craters in FEM simulation
results were used and compared with the previous experimental and
FEM works by means of crater sphericity. The influence of impact
angle and particle velocity was observed. Adaptive mesh domain is
used to model the impact zone. Results are in good agreement with
those obtained from the experimental and FEM simulation. The
crater-s depth is also obtained for different impact angle and abrasive
particle velocities.
Abstract: In this paper, novel statistical sampling based equalization techniques and CNN based detection are proposed to increase the spectral efficiency of multiuser communication systems over fading channels. Multiuser communication combined with selective fading can result in interferences which severely deteriorate the quality of service in wireless data transmission (e.g. CDMA in mobile communication). The paper introduces new equalization methods to combat interferences by minimizing the Bit Error Rate (BER) as a function of the equalizer coefficients. This provides higher performance than the traditional Minimum Mean Square Error equalization. Since the calculation of BER as a function of the equalizer coefficients is of exponential complexity, statistical sampling methods are proposed to approximate the gradient which yields fast equalization and superior performance to the traditional algorithms. Efficient estimation of the gradient is achieved by using stratified sampling and the Li-Silvester bounds. A simple mechanism is derived to identify the dominant samples in real-time, for the sake of efficient estimation. The equalizer weights are adapted recursively by minimizing the estimated BER. The near-optimal performance of the new algorithms is also demonstrated by extensive simulations. The paper has also developed a (Cellular Neural Network) CNN based approach to detection. In this case fast quadratic optimization has been carried out by t, whereas the task of equalizer is to ensure the required template structure (sparseness) for the CNN. The performance of the method has also been analyzed by simulations.
Abstract: In this paper, multiobjective design of multi-machine Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is presented. The stabilizers are tuned to simultaneously shift the lightly damped and undamped electro-mechanical modes of all machines to a prescribed zone in the s-plane. A multiobjective problem is formulated to optimize a composite set of objective functions comprising the damping factor, and the damping ratio of the lightly damped electromechanical modes. The PSSs parameters tuning problem is converted to an optimization problem which is solved by PSO with the eigenvalue-based multiobjective function. The proposed PSO based PSSs is tested on a multimachine power system under different operating conditions and disturbances through eigenvalue analysis and some performance indices to illustrate its robust performance.
Abstract: The treatment of the industrial wastewater can be
particularly difficult in the presence of toxic compounds. Excessive
concentration of Chromium in soluble form is toxic to a wide variety
of living organisms. Biological removal of heavy metals using natural
and genetically engineered microorganisms has aroused great interest
because of its lower impact on the environment. Ralston
metallidurans, formerly known as Alcaligenes eutrophus is a LProteobacterium
colonizing industrial wastewater with a high content
of heavy metals. Tris-buffered mineral salt medium was used for
growing Alcaligenes eutrophus AE104 (pEBZ141). The cells were
cultivated for 18 h at 30 oC in Tris-buffered mineral salt medium
containing 3 mM disodium sulphate and 46 mM sodium gluconate as
the carbon source. The cells were harvested by centrifugation,
washed, and suspended in 10 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.0, containing 46
mM sodium gluconate, and 5 mM Chromium. Interaction among
induction of chr resistance determinant, and chromate reduction have
been demonstrated. Results of this study show that the above bacteria
can be very useful for bioremediation of chromium from industrial
wastewater.
Abstract: Signal processing applications which are iterative in
nature are best represented by data flow graphs (DFG). In these
applications, the maximum sampling frequency is dependent on the
topology of the DFG, the cyclic dependencies in particular. The
determination of the iteration bound, which is the reciprocal of the
maximum sampling frequency, is critical in the process of hardware
implementation of signal processing applications. In this paper, a
novel technique to compute the iteration bound is proposed. This
technique is different from all previously proposed techniques, in the
sense that it is based on the natural flow of tokens into the DFG
rather than the topology of the graph. The proposed algorithm has
lower run-time complexity than all known algorithms. The
performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated through
analytical analysis of the time complexity, as well as through
simulation of some benchmark problems.
Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of how one can
improve the performance of a non-optimal filter. First the theoretical question on dynamical representation for a given time correlated
random process is studied. It will be demonstrated that for a wide class of random processes, having a canonical form, there exists
a dynamical system equivalent in the sense that its output has the
same covariance function. It is shown that the dynamical approach is more effective for simulating and estimating a Markov and non-
Markovian random processes, computationally is less demanding,
especially with increasing of the dimension of simulated processes.
Numerical examples and estimation problems in low dimensional
systems are given to illustrate the advantages of the approach. A very useful application of the proposed approach is shown for the
problem of state estimation in very high dimensional systems. Here a modified filter for data assimilation in an oceanic numerical model
is presented which is proved to be very efficient due to introducing
a simple Markovian structure for the output prediction error process
and adaptive tuning some parameters of the Markov equation.
Abstract: Thai and Vietnamese music had been influenced and inspired by the traditional Chinese music. Whereby the differences of the tuning systems as well as the music modes are obviously known . The research examined the character of musical instruments, songs and culture between Thai and Vietnamese. An analyzing of songs and modes and the study of tone vibration as well as timbre had been done accurately. This qualitative research is based on documentary and songs analysis, field study, interviews and focus group discussion of Thai and Vietnamese masters. The research aims are to examine the musical instruments and songs of both Thai and Vietnamese as well as the comparison of the sounding system between Thailand and Vietnam. The finding of the research has revealed that there are similarities in certain kinds of instruments but differences in the sound systems regarding songs and scale of Thailand and Vietnam. Both cultural musical instruments are diverse and synthetic combining native and foreign inspiring. An integral part of Vietnam has been highly impacted by Chinese musical convention. Korea, Mongolia and Japan music have also play an active and effectively influenced as their geographical related. Whereas Thailand has been influenced by Chinese and Indian traditional music. Both Thai and Vietnamese musical instruments can be divided into four groups: plucked strings, bowed strings, winds and percussion. Songs from both countries have their own characteristics. They are playing a role in touching people heart in ceremonies, social functions and an essential element of the native performing arts. The Vietnamese music melodies have been influenced by Chinese music and taken the same character as Chinese songs. Thai song has specific identity and variety showed in its unique melody. Pentatonic scales have effectively been used in composing Thai and Vietnamese songs, but in different implementing concept.
Abstract: This study presents an investigation of
electrochemical variables and an application of the optimal
parameters in operating a continuous upflow electrocoagulation
reactor in removing dye. Direct red 23, which is azo-based, was used
as a representative of direct dyes. First, a batch mode was employed
to optimize the design parameters: electrode type, electrode distance,
current density and electrocoagulation time. The optimal parameters
were found to be iron anode, distance between electrodes of 8 mm
and current density of 30 A·m-2 with contact time of 5 min. The
performance of the continuous upflow reactor with these parameters
was satisfactory, with >95% color removal and energy consumption
in the order of 0.6-0.7 kWh·m-3.
Abstract: Paper deals with the topic of questions as important
components of information behavior in the school. By analyzing the
Corpus Schola2010, the state of contemporary education in terms of
questioning is proven unsatisfactory: 80% of the questions are asked
by teachers; most of teacher-s questions are asked at the beginning of
the first grade, than their number decreases and is settling down on
80±10 questions per lesson. The average number of questions within
one lesson per one pupil is generally less than one whole question.
The highest values are achieved in the first, sixth, eighth and tenth
grade,, i.e. in the transition years in which pupils are moving into
higher levels of education and every following year it declines. We
can state Czech school do not support questioning and question skill
of their pupils, thereby typical Czech schools are neglecting the
development of thinking, reasoning and cooperation of their pupils.
Abstract: In this work, propagation of uncertainty during calibration
process of TRANUS, an integrated land use and transport model
(ILUTM), has been investigated. It has also been examined, through a
sensitivity analysis, which input parameters affect the variation of the
outputs the most. Moreover, a probabilistic verification methodology
of calibration process, which equates the observed and calculated
production, has been proposed. The model chosen as an application is
the model of the city of Grenoble, France. For sensitivity analysis and
uncertainty propagation, Monte Carlo method was employed, and a
statistical hypothesis test was used for verification. The parameters of
the induced demand function in TRANUS, were assumed as uncertain
in the present case. It was found that, if during calibration, TRANUS
converges, then with a high probability the calibration process is
verified. Moreover, a weak correlation was found between the inputs
and the outputs of the calibration process. The total effect of the
inputs on outputs was investigated, and the output variation was found
to be dictated by only a few input parameters.
Abstract: Embedding and extraction of a secret information as
well as the restoration of the original un-watermarked image is
highly desirable in sensitive applications like military, medical, and
law enforcement imaging. This paper presents a novel reversible
data-hiding method for digital images using integer to integer
wavelet transform and companding technique which can embed and
recover the secret information as well as can restore the image to its
pristine state. The novel method takes advantage of block based
watermarking and iterative optimization of threshold for companding
which avoids histogram pre and post-processing. Consequently, it
reduces the associated overhead usually required in most of the
reversible watermarking techniques. As a result, it keeps the
distortion small between the marked and the original images.
Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the
existing reversible data hiding schemes reported in the literature.
Abstract: Least Development Countries (LDC) like
Bangladesh, whose 25% revenue earning is achieved from Textile
export, requires producing less defective textile for minimizing
production cost and time. Inspection processes done on these
industries are mostly manual and time consuming. To reduce error
on identifying fabric defects requires more automotive and
accurate inspection process. Considering this lacking, this research
implements a Textile Defect Recognizer which uses computer
vision methodology with the combination of multi-layer neural
networks to identify four classifications of textile defects. The
recognizer, suitable for LDC countries, identifies the fabric defects
within economical cost and produces less error prone inspection
system in real time. In order to generate input set for the neural
network, primarily the recognizer captures digital fabric images by
image acquisition device and converts the RGB images into binary
images by restoration process and local threshold techniques.
Later, the output of the processed image, the area of the faulty
portion, the number of objects of the image and the sharp factor of
the image, are feed backed as an input layer to the neural network
which uses back propagation algorithm to compute the weighted
factors and generates the desired classifications of defects as an
output.
Abstract: The vehicle fleet of public transportation companies is often equipped with intelligent on-board passenger information systems. A frequently used but time and labor-intensive way for keeping the on-board controllers up-to-date is the manual update using different memory cards (e.g. flash cards) or portable computers. This paper describes a compression algorithm that enables data transmission using low bandwidth wireless radio networks (e.g. GPRS) by minimizing the amount of data traffic. In typical cases it reaches a compression rate of an order of magnitude better than that of the general purpose compressors. Compressed data can be easily expanded by the low-performance controllers, too.